Quote:
Originally Posted by bill_mchale
I assume when you placed encryption in quotes, you were referring to the specific type of encryption that ties a book to a device? Without some sort of encryption, there is no DRM by definition.
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And herein lies the crux of the matter: Publishers have consistently used continuing encryption of one kind or another as DRM, which has led to the widespread assumption that encryption is the only form of DRM.
This is simply not so.
DRM does not mean by definition, the control of the buyer's rights
after he buys a product... that is simply
one definition, the one pushed by most publishers as a means to secure the least amount of loss, but which clearly they have little or no success with.
Controlling the sale--i.e., you have the right to download the book once you've paid for it--is also a legitimate form of DRM. In fact, as you indicated, it is a system so accepted by buyers that most, like you, do not even consider it DRM. As a system, it does nothing to control loss after the sale... it works to control loss during the purchase only. But that still meets the definition of one type of Digital Rights Management.
Most importantly, if it is accepted by your customers, they have little desire to rip you off, and loss is thereby mitigated.
If you want to oppose continuing encryption, given the inherent flaws around that system, that is completely understandable. But condemning DRM for the flaws of continuing encryption is truly throwing out the baby with the bathwater.
BTW: Regarding iTunes, since in fact it is relatively easy for most people to burn a CD, or (like I do) use the software on my PC to simply play the song after purchase, and line-record into a new MP3 file, I consider iTunes' encryption system to be fairly easy to circumvent. I've never owned an iPod, but I easily transfer my iTunes music to my Cowon iAudio player using the free software that came with it. I'm sure most users younger than I have figured out the same thing... so they are not concerned about losing their collections, as long as they burn/re-record them.